{"id":7516,"date":"2014-09-08t17:02:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-08t21:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.deco-dalles.com\/?p=7516"},"modified":"2019-10-17t15:38:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17t19:38:35","slug":"build-cringe-worthy-primavera-p6-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.deco-dalles.com\/build-cringe-worthy-primavera-p6-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"a go-to guide to building a cringe-worthy primavera p6 schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

the meeting had gone well. i was going to win some business and they were going to get complete primavera p6\u00a0training<\/a> for 10 schedulers. the day was looking up, until he asked me, as i was just about to head out the door, “would you mind looking a schedule over for me? it should only take you a few minutes.<\/p>\n

we just hired a new scheduler and he put it together. i’d like your opinion on it.” “um….ok.” i said. “send it over.” i knew i was in trouble at “um.”<\/p>\n

once i’d opened up p6, imported the xer and clicked activities,\u00a0i was completely stymied<\/a> by what was supposed to be a professional primavera p6 project schedule. and it didn’t end up just\u00a0taking a few minutes. maybe you’ve been in the same situation in your job; perhaps you were sent a contractor’s schedule to review, or maybe you inherited\u00a0a “less than ideal” schedule from someone else, or maybe you work as a forensic analyst<\/a> and see this sort of thing all the time.<\/p>\n

putting a schedule together is almost never an easy and straightforward task. the lengthy process of building a project schedule in primavera p6 can be riddled with pitfalls, tradeoffs and poor practices<\/a> that can lead to poorly prepared schedules. so this post is going to present some of the worst practices we’ve seen in the building of primavera p6 schedules. if none of these apply to you, congratulations! consider this an entertaining read at lunch. if you have fallen victim to some of these practices, don’t worry – we’ll see if we can straighten your project out.<\/p>\n

11 ways to build a cringe-worthy\u00a0primavera p6 schedule<\/h2>\n

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1. link only half of your activities together<\/h3>\n

imagine trying to send an email from a computer that is not connected to the network. nowadays, if it’s not connected, your pc isn’t\u00a0doing much good. now imagine a project schedule with 450 activities that have no predecessor or successor relationships. same idea. \"primavera a project schedule is really just\u00a0a network of interconnected tasks put into a thoughtful order of execution. without the relationships, you don’t have a network. and you don’t have an accurate critical path as there is no path to<\/em> an activity with missing relationships (or perhaps no path from<\/em> an activity if we’re talking about open ends).<\/p>\n

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here’s how to fix it.<\/h4>\n

leave no activity un-linked. that is, any activity that is a workable task should have a predecessor and a successor. the only exceptions are the project’s first and last activities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2. don’t bother with milestones<\/h3>\n

i don’t know about you, but one of the very first things i look for when i’m shown a schedule are the milestones. it’s the easiest way to get a sense for major deadlines and startups. so when i don’t see any, i get confused and quick. now think about the owner, client or project sponsor. milestones\u00a0are a necessity for tracking to major deliverables, the beginning or end of a project phase, or major events like materials showing up or approvals.<\/p>\n

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how to fix it.<\/h4>\n

pick out the big dates in your schedule and use p6’s “start milestone” or “finish milestone” activity type to highlight those events in your project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3. being\u00a0vague is best<\/h3>\n

if you’re really going for a project that’s vague and ambiguous, then you should consider using lots of one-word activity names to add some mystery to what your crew is working on. try some of these\u00a0descriptions:<\/p>\n